Responses to the Coup d'etat in Honduras on Sunday June 28, with special emphasis on producing English-language versions of commentaries by Honduran scholars and editorial writers and addressing the confusion encouraged by lack of basic knowledge about Honduras.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Congress deliberates on repeating the coup

The Partido Nacionalista had determined to meet today and reach a uniform position on the restoral of constitutional order.

While La Prensa reports that debate is ongoing, and that the head of Congress, Jose Saavedra, says it could continue until Friday, a first hint of the likely vote came when the Nacionalista delegation introduced a motion to deny restoration of President Zelaya. Reportedly, according to La Tribuna's Minuto a Minuto, 33 members of the Liberal party joined the Nacionalistas to vote to accept the motion for debate.

As previously promised, the reports received by Congress are now unsealed and all are opposed to the return to the constitutional order that existed before June 28.

Let us pause before the debate concludes and recall two things:

there is no legal basis under Honduran law for what was done June 28. The legal code requires the presumption of innocence; the rights of due process have not been honored; no legal verdict on charges against President Zelaya could validly be reached without due process; and no verdict resulting in his conviction of a crime has been reached. So the Congress is debating whether to commit a crime, or rather, recommit the crimes they committed on June 28. They do not and did not have authority to remove the President from office and replace him.

Second: the sole reason they are debating committing these crimes again is because a US-brokered, US-proxy-mediated agreement invited Congress to substitute an unconstitutional vote for an unconstitutional vote.

Listening on Channel 36, it's like they're compiling a Best Hits of the Golpe Album.

The few voices against, people like Edmundo Orellana who was quite eloquent, are isolated, not coordinated in their protest. The dictatorship lets them have their say, knowing that they have the votes to control the outcome.